Claiming What's His (23 page)

             
Maggie quickly shoved it in her pocket.  “Nope, I can make due.  No change once it hits my pocket.”  Maggie always had kept the change if Alex, Nick or George sent her out to buy something.  They knew the routine and they didn’t seem to care.  “Alright, kids.  Have fun.  Buckle up and drive safe.  Lunch will be here in an hour or two, whenever you get back.  That’ll give you plenty of time to have… fun.”  She walked away with a wink.

             
Alex opened the passenger door and she got in. 

             
The dark leather seats were nice and warm from the summer heat against the bare of her skin.  The dashboard was complete with a navigation system and multi-disc changer with satellite radio.

             
Alex walked around the hood and folded in behind the wheel, pulling on his seatbelt.  He turned the key and the engine roared. 

             
That wasn’t it.

             
Roared wasn’t the right word. 

             
It purred.  It purred as in
purrrrred
… loudly and furiously.

             
Nice!

             
Really
nice!

             
He pulled out and drove down the street with the windows slightly down and the wind blowing wildly in her hair.  The windy breeze swept through, the warm-humid mixture leaving the muggy, stickiness feeling to her skin.

             
When they hit the intersection of Main and Third, Sam glanced to the side and noticed a familiar vehicle parked on the side.  Because the car was in motion, she couldn’t get a good luck.

             
When they came to a stop at an intersection, she took a closer look.  She studied the car and noticed that it had a dent on one side of the car.  It was a dark Pontiac Grand AM, the same car from the night of the fundraiser that tried to run her over.

             
She turned to tell Alex to turn here, but he was already ahead of her, appearing to be reading her mind.  Apparently he also saw what she saw.

             
He turned onto Third and parked in an empty space a few cars away from the Pontiac.  He cut the engine and they sat in there for about twenty minutes when out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone familiar leave a store.

             
Lynn Summers.

             
She tapped Alex on the arm and did a chin lift in her direction.  He followed her pointing and she saw his jaw tightened.  She reached  for the door when he grabbed her hand.  She turned to him to see that he had a worried expression on his face.

             
“What?” she prompted.

             
“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes scanning her face for any indication, any twitch, any flinch.

             
“I’m fine,” she replied and it was the truth.  She really was fine.

             
He was silent then he clarified, “We had nothing.”

             
“I know.  It still doesn’t make this much more fun that she’s involved in my first case.”

             
He sighed and she wriggled her hand out from his folded out of the car, and shutting it behind her as he followed closely behind.

             
“Lynn,” Sam heard him call behind her.

             
Lynn tipped her head and immediately her face beamed happily.  She shifted her eyes to me and just as quickly, her happy expression died, quickly replaced with a smirk.

             
“Samantha Daniels.  My, my, my, have we grown,” she snickered.

             
“I see you have too,” referring to the two fake airbags stuck to her chest.  She walked up and stopped in front of Alex.

             
“They look great, don’t they, Alex?”  She shoved her breasts in his direction, giving it a slight shake.

             
“No not really.  Never been a fan of the fake stuff.  Prefer the real thing.” He answered honestly.  That was the truth.  He never like fake women, whether it be personality, attitude, or cosmetic-related.  He always preferred girls to be natural and real in every way.

             
“We have a few questions for you.” Sam told her as Lynn pursed her lip to a pout.

             
Without taking her eyes away from Alex, she asked, “What about?”

             
“First, what happen to your car?” Sam asked as she pointed her head towards the dented car.

             
She did a brief glance back to her dent, her expression flashed a second before she recovered.  “Oh that thing.  Someone hit the side of my car last week when it was parked on the curb.  No biggie.” She answered casually and shrugged as if her car really didn’t mean anything to her.  It was a perfectly good car, in better shape than Betty ever was, and Lynn acted as if she didn’t care about it.

             
“You’re not curious or worried that someone hit your car?” Sam questioned.

             
“It’s just a car.  It can always be replaced.”

             
Spoken like the spoiled, princess she was known as (other than the bitch). 

             
Sam continued, “Where were you Saturday night?”

             
“I was there at the fundraiser by the dunk machine where Bob was at most of the night.  Then I was flirting with Roger Caplin after I saw your big debut at the kissing booth, or should I say, your make-out session with Alex-poo here before he cut your session short for the other guys.”

             
Sam knew her face turned crimson.  Not from anger, but from embarrassment. 

             
Lynn always did know which buttons to push. 

             
She felt Alex’s hands at her neck, giving her a gentle squeeze.  She shook off the thought and continued.

             
“Can anyone vouch for you at the dunk tank?” Sam asked.

             
“I’m sure if you asked Bob, he can vouch for me.  I spoke to him several times before each pitcher and after he gets dunked when he comes up for air.”

             
“Were you anywhere else?”

             
“No, after the lights came back on, I grabbed my stuff and headed home.  Didn’t go anywhere else.  What is this about?”

             
“We’re just following up on some stuff.  We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions for you.  But before we go, are you planning on going anywhere?”

             
Sam was referring to the new luggage that she was holding with its tags still stuck on it. 

             
“Oh yeah, I was planning on a little vacation somewhere in the Caribbean.  I hear it’s so nice and beautiful out there.”

             
“When are you going?” Sam asked, thinking that it could be a planned getaway trip if she was involved.

             
“Oh, uh, I haven’t quite decided yet.  Just want to plan ahead before I go.”

             
Sam nodded.  “Thanks.”

             
She turned to talk away and Alex grabbed a hold of her hand.  She glanced slightly to the side, pretending to look down, and saw that Lynn was glaring at her from the corner of her eyes.

             
Alex stopped on the passenger side to hit on the hood, pulling her between his legs.  He wrapped his arms around her waist, forcing her to rest her hands on his chest.

             
“Talk to me.”

             
“She’s lying.  About the car, about where she was at after the fundraiser.  But I did think she was telling the truth about the Caribbean, then lied again about when she was going.”

             
“I agree with everything you said about Lynn lying.  But I’m not talking about that.”

             
Her brows furrowed.  “What are you talking about then?”

             
“You know what I’m talking about,” he said in a worried tone.

             
He was referring to her.

             
“I’m fine.  I promise.  I hated seeing her again.  I really did.  But when you told me that you didn’t have anything to do with her, it was a little easier to approach her without clawing her eyes out.”

             
He chuckled and dipped his face in her neck, nuzzling her then nipping her jaw.  “We’ll about this later.  Wanna finish our ride?”

             
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, slid her fingers into his hair and pulled, lifting his head up and kissed him, swiping her tongue in his mouth.

             
He growled.

             
She smiled.

             
He deepened the kiss, making her head dizzy, just how he liked it.

             
Just how he knew she liked it.

             
They finished their ride before heading back to the office.

             
He also told her that while she don’t have a car, she would be using the Stingray as a ‘loaner’. 

             
And this was the
good
out of the eye twitch.

             
Best. 

             
Guy. 

             
Ever.

              “Who’s Joseph Haynes?” Sam asked as Maggie walked in with a sandwich in between her hands, her arms bent to take a bite and a bag hung between her forearm and bicep at her elbow.

             
Sam had been sprawled out on the floor for the past hour since returning from her adventurous car ride with Alex.  Adventurous wasn’t even the right term; the correct term (or terms) was downright wrong, wrong because their encounter with Lynn had her wanting to claw out her eyes and bitch slap her until she was supposed to return from her alleged trip.  And an encounter with her alone ruined the whole ride experience for her.  She’d have to convince Alex to take her for another ride later; maybe they could get really adventurous and…
creative
.

             
Now she was lying on the floor on her stomach, her legs bent at the knees waving in the air, and her shoes flipped half off as it flung in the air.

             
“He is Accounting Supervisor under Nick.  Good looking guy.  Why?”

             
“Because he was the one who went to Dallas, every week for a month, staying at the same hotel when you told me that no one really goes up there except George.”

             
Maggie walked over and got down on her knees next to Sam’s shoulders, sitting on her heels with her hands resting in her lap.  She was glancing over Sam’s shoulders at the report.  “It’s
not
uncommon for him to go out of town and check on stuff for Uncle George.  But, it is uncommon to go every week to the same city.  I can understand if it was two days for that one week.  I could even understand every week but only if it was in a different city.

             
“But it isn’t, in this case,” Sam pointed out.

             
Maggie nodded.  “You’re right.  I think you’re on to something with that.  Look more into it.”

             
“Okay.”

*******

              A few hours later Sam was back sitting at her desk when a man wearing a gray pant suit with spiky hair approached her desk with hands in his pocket.  She looked up to see him somewhat smiling down at her. 

             
His smile reminded her Sheldon Cooper’s creepy guy smile that he gave people on
The Big Bang Theory
when he was pretending to return a smile.

             
She smiled back, out of politeness. 

             
“Hi, can I help you with something?” she asked.

             
“Actually, I was getting ready to ask you that same question.  I hear you’ve had a little run in with the finance report and I wanted to see if I could be of some assistance,” he replied casually with a smile.

             
Sam was sure that he tried using that same smile to benefit himself in so many ways.  Unfortunately, for him, it didn’t work on her.

             
That perked up her radar instantly.

             
How did he know what she was doing?  Her position in the company wasn’t public knowledge and no one was supposed to know what her purpose in the company was.

             
She changed the subject and tried playing it off before he could figure anything out, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but I’m fine with my work.  Who are you?”

             
“I’m Joe Haynes.  And I was trying to be helpful.  You’d let me know if you need any help?”

             
Boy he was sure playing this nice card pretty well.

             
“Um, sure.  What department are you in?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.

             
“Accounting, but I’m sure you know that,” he said with a wink.

             
He was acting really weird.  It was as if he knew her every step.

             
“How would I know that?  I just started here.  But, like I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I just met you today.  I need to get back to work.”

             
“Your computer log in information.  It tells me what files are accessed and who accessed it.  But you know who I am.  Everyone knows who I am.”

             
Her face must have been a reaction she wasn’t aware of because as soon as Alex walked up behind Joe and saw her expression, his jaw tightened.  “Is something wrong, Sam?”

             
Her eyes shifted to Alex and tried to gain her normal composure (which she was sure she was failing).  “No, everything’s fine.  Joe was just leaving.”

             
“I didn’t mean to bother you.  I was trying to help.”  Joe turned and walked away.

             
Alex moved closer to the desk, his eyes never leaving hers.  “You sure everything’s okay?”

             
She nodded.  “Yeah.  He was acting kind of… weird.”

             
Alex went on alert.  “Weird?  How so?”

             
“I don’t know.  Just little things he said, about how he knew what I was doing and that I knew who he was.  He was being very persistent.  He said I knew him and that everyone knows who he is.”

             
His body relaxed.  “Word is he’s a ladies’ man.”

             
Her lips curled.  “Seriously?”

             
Alex chuckled and shrugged.  “That’s what I heard.  Besides, wouldn’t you know that more than me?  Anyway, just keep a close eye on him.  I’m getting bad vibes.”

             
“Yeah, me too.  I’ll watch out.” Sam assured him.

             
“You wanna go to the office or work some more here?” he asked.

             
“I want to work some more.  I feel like I’m getting closer with this.”

             
“You got it.  I’ll stay a little longer and sift through my stuff.  Then I’ll head over to the office to see if there’s anything else.  I’ll bring dinner.  Do you want me to check with Char on your cases for you?”

             
“If you don’t mind.  Just tell her to email a list if there’s anything.”

             
He softly kissed her lips and left.

*******

              It was five before eight o’clock when it was dark outside. 

             
Everyone had been gone for hours now and the office was vacant.

             
Sam had left Alex’s office door wide open so she would be able to hear someone approaching (and also so it wouldn’t scare the crap out of her).  She had taken her shoes off and sat on the ground next to the coffee table in front of the couch.  With the highlighter at hand, she continued reviewing the reports to the bank statements with receipts. 

             
She noticed an odd payment that caught her eyes when, all of a sudden, the place went dark. 

             
Not sure if the power tripped or if this was a power outage. 

             
She got up to her feet and felt around the table for her phone.  She found it, scrolled through the apps for the one she was looking for, the flashlight app.  She turned it on, rising up the phone and looked around.  She then  reached into her purse and saw the mace, the stun gun, and the handgun.               

             
Since she wasn’t sure who it could be, her best two choices would be stun gun or handgun.  Since she was at George’s company and she was almost sure nothing would happen, she chose stun gun.  Plus, she really didn’t want to shoot any of his other employees.

             
Sam walked back out to her desk and found the place empty.  At a distance she heard footsteps and the squeak of rubber against the tile floor.  Maybe sneakers.

             
“Hello?  Is anyone there?” She called out as she gripped the stun gun tightly in her hand.

             
The footsteps stopped. 

             
“If anyone is there, say something.  It’s Sam,” she announced. 

             
Still no answer.

             
She continued walking down the hall, slowly.  She passed a series of offices and cubicles, glancing inside for anyone.  She came to the end row of cubicles and stopped.

             
No one.

             
Strange.  Maybe it was her imagination.  The grip on the stun gun eased a little.  Maybe it was her paranoia but she could have sworn she heard something.

             
She took a deep breath and decided to go back to the office.

             
Just as she turned around, someone surprised her from behind, their arm wrapped around her neck, tightly and quickly cutting off her air supply. 

             
Instantly, she knew this was a man.  From the big, thick body pressed behind her, she knew at least it wasn’t Alex trying to kill her (or play a practical joke).

             
Panic hit her as she pounded and scratched against the thick arm, silently, desperately begging for release.  Her legs were kicking wildly for something, anything to happen.  Her brain was slowly getting fuzzy from the lack of oxygen. 

             
Sam dropped her phone and reached around him, trying to grab something, anything.  She still had her stun gun in her other hand.  Pressing the button, the sound of the stun gun crackled.  She only had one chance to get the person.  With what little energy she had left, she aimed somewhere behind her, luckily, connecting to something. 

             
Before she knew if she got the person or not and even when she thought she heard someone call her name, everything went black.

*******

              Pumping. 

             
Up and down. 

             
Up and down.

             
Up and down.

             
Sam felt the compression against her chest. 

             
Someone was pushing on her chest.  Then she felt familiar soft but firm lips pressed around her mouth, huffing air in.

             
“Sam!  Sam, wake up baby,” she heard next to her.

             
Alex.

             
She heard his voice and she wanted to go, to open her eyes and wake up to him, but her body wasn’t moving.  It wasn’t responding to her will.  And she tried, she really did tried to get her body to twitch, to move, to breathe, anything.

             
But nothing so far.

             
Pumping, up and down, up and down.

             
“Sam, you can’t die!  You can’t leave me again!”

             
Die.

             
She was dying.

             
Shit.

             
This wasn’t good.

             
She couldn’t leave Alex now.

             
Not yet.

             
Not again.

*******

              Air.

             
A gush of air reached her lungs like a super phenomenon.

             
Her eyes flew open and she gasped with her arms and legs flying wildly.  She choked and began breathing in as much as she can like it was the most precious thing (which in the case it was).

             
“Sam, fuck baby, you scared me to death.  That’s it, breathe.  Deeply, in and out,” Alex coaxed.

             
Sam did as he asked.  One arm cradled her while the other rubbed up and down her back.  She gripped his arm tighter, slightly beginning to shake.  She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t form any words.  The words were stuck in her throat, refusing to process across her lips.  And the slight shake wasn’t so slight anymore; it was a full-on quake.

             
Sam needed to get control of herself, one way or another. 

             
First up, her breathing.  She was still sucking up air and didn’t seem to be slowing down soon enough.  So she tried breathing in deeper and longer, as opposed to the short, quick gasps.  That helped.

             
Second, her voice.  She opened and closed her mouth, concentrating hard on forming a word or a sound (other than the air gasping).  She knew what she needed to say but it was getting the words out that seemed to be her problem.